The 19 Years Between
by Kat Kreacher
Summary: Ginny's life from the Battle of Hogwarts to when she stands on platform 9 3/4 19 years later is action packed. But what actually went on in those years...? September 1st for 19 years. Rated T just in-case.
1. 1999

1999

Ginny's brown eyes were open before she could stop them. The same nightmare that had plagued her resting hours for weeks after the final battle of Hogwarts had disturbed her again. She hadn't had it it for 2 months now and she thought it had stopped. In the dream she saw Hagrid carrying Harry's limp, lifeless form out of the the Forbidden forest. She always woke up when her dream-self screamed.

She glanced at her clock, the red light told her it was September 1st. She couldn't remember what was important about that date but she knew it was of great significance. Then she remembered. September 1st! Her final year at Hogwarts started today! Normally this would be a cause of great excitement but today she felt hollow.

As her eyes swept round the room, they lingered on a photo. It was of her and Harry. It was one of the nicest photos of the two of them. Harry was smiling lovingly at her and she was laughing so hard she couldn't breath. It definitely wasn't one of the most attractive photos of her. In fact it was one of the worst. Harry didn't look too bad (but then again, Ginny had quite a biased opinion), but despite all this she still liked it. It made her forget about all the time she had spent longing to be with Harry, it made it all worthwhile to see them so happy together.

Then it hit her, a dementor's kiss. She felt all the happiness drain out of her. Harry wasn't going to be at Hogwarts this year. He was a trained Auror now, he had his own house and lead a grown up life. She was still a school girl. Ginny worried that Harry would forget about her in the months they would be apart.

Ron was an Auror too, and although he still lived at home he had left for work before she had woken up. He hadn't even said goodbye. Maybe he had forgotten. Maybe everyone had forgotten.

Hermione and Neville wouldn't be there either. Hermione had got a job in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Apparently she was very high up.

Neville was also an Auror, she and Hermione had spent many hours teasing Ron and Neville about how, if it wasn't for Voldemort, neither of them would have been able to be Aurors, as neither of them would have got the grades.

At least Luna would be there. She was a nice person, although very weird. She and Ginny were complete opposites as Ginny was possibly the most down to earth person on the planet.

She allowed herself 5 more minutes of moping before she dragged herself downstairs.

'Morning dear', said Mrs Weasley brightly.

'Morning', Ginny mumbled in response.

She was on the verge of tears but determined not to show it.

It was a strange sensation, the eerie quiet that filled the Burrow was almost as loud as when the whole family, plus a couple more, pelted through the house looking for last minute things they had decided they needed.

Now only herself, her parents and George remained. At one point, the twins had accounted for about 80% of the noise, but now, after Fred's death, George barely left the house, often lying in bed for weeks on end without getting up unless to use the toilet.

On her birthday, two months previously, the whole family had come back home, but Ginny had to admit, it wasn't the best birthday she'd ever had. It should have been a celebration, she was of age at last! But it had been quite a sober event, with her mother bursting into tears on at least two occasions. That was the last time she had seen what was left of her family all together.

Mrs Weasley gave her a gentle squeeze, bringing her back to the present.

'You'll have a great time', she said, 'just think, you're captain of the quidditch team, you're top of the school and you've got no protective brothers watching your every move.'

Ginny thought about this and then managed to splutter, 'but no Harry!'

'Come on love, just think how many boyfriends you can have! He'll never know!'

'Mum!' Ginny yelped, laughing.

'Seriously thought love, it will be good for you two to have a break, you've seen each other practically everyday for the last 6 years.'

'I didn't see him ALL last year!'

'You can wait till christmas, dear.'

'I can't mum!'

With that, she buried her flaming head into her mothers rather large chest.

They stayed like that, Ginny's heaving shoulders gradually subsiding, until Mrs Weasley glanced at the clock and exclaimed, 'Goodness, look at the time, get some food down your neck, we'll be late!', which startled Ginny half to death.

They arrived at the train station ½ an hour before the train was due to leave, so Ginny had plenty of time to compose herself before facing her fellow students. To her great joy, Harry, Ron and Hermione appeared through the barrier 10 minutes later. She could feel the tears prickling the back of her eyelids again as the three of them sat together, her head resting on Harry's shoulder, listening to Ron witter about nothing in particular, a couple of silent tears trickling down her flawless face.

The station gradually began to fill up and first years were excited to see the three most famous people of the moment. They whispered amongst themselves, nervously pointing the trio out to their friends.

As people began to board the train, Hermione and Mrs Weasley tactfully moved away from Harry and Ginny. Ron, after some fierce glares from Hermione, did the same.

Ginny smiled nervously into Harry's bright emerald eyes, the tears already beginning to reform.

'I've never cried so much in my life', she smiled weakly as Harry tenderly brushed away her tears before giving in and kissing her passionately. Mrs Weasley looked away awkwardly.

When they finally broke apart she opened her eyes and laughed. Everybody was staring at them. Ginny realised that there were many, many girls that would give anything to be in her place. She caught Harry's eye and they both laughed.

Harry kissed her forehead before pushing her towards her mother and turning away to hide his tears.

She said goodbye to her family before rushing back to Harry and throwing her arms around him, 'see you at christmas, Potter', she chuckled before darting onto the train, seconds before the doors slammed shut. She didn't have time to look back before the platform had disappeared into a puff of smoke.

_A/N_

_Hi!_

_This is my first story, I hope you enjoy it. Please review with any comments/criticisms._

_There will be 19 chapters, all set on September 1st, from 1999-2017._

_Kat x _


	2. 2000

September 1st 2000

Ginny felt the warm breeze wash over her skin, she whizzed backwards and forwards on her new Firebolt 200 which Harry had bought for her birthday. It was the latest model and with her first match as the new chaser for the Holyhead Harpies only hours away the early morning chill combined with the rush she felt when she was flying was keeping her nerves at bay.

She was glad it was Harry who had bought her the broom. It felt like she had a part of him with her, which was comforting as he and Ron were away on a raid so couldn't watch the match.

Hermione was coming though, along with many Weasleys and their extended family. Afterwards, everyone was congregating back at the Burrow, either to celebrate or drown their sorrows, depending on the outcome of her first match.

As she drew nearer the Burrow, she became more and more nervous, the reality sinking in. It was the first match of the season, and a big one as they were playing Puddlemere United, the Harpies' greatest rival.

She flew in an open window and almost killed her father who was on his way to get breakfast. She was very glad it wasn't her mother who she had knocked over as she suspected that she wouldn't have been quite so forgiving.

'You're up early', her father commented, once he had got over the shock.

'Couldn't sleep,' admitted Ginny.

He squeezed her hand, 'you're going to be great, sweetie! I honestly can't believe it, my baby girl, a professional quidditch player! I'm so, so proud!'

'Don't tell Ron you're more proud of me than him! He's always going on about how hard he works!' Ginny exclaimed.

Her father chuckled, 'That boys never done a hard days work in his life!' He paused, 'Come on now, chicken, let's get you some breakfast.'

'Oh dad, I couldn't!'

'You can and you will', said Mr Weasley forcefully.

'No dad, I'll be sick.'

'Don't be nervous poppet, you're going to blow them away.'

Reluctantly, Ginny allowed herself to be lead into the kitchen, where her father attempted to cook breakfast. Unfortunately, he had never been very good at household spells.

Ginny looked at the black lumps on her plate and gulped. 'Don't worry Dad. I'm really not hungry.' she said, 'I'd better being going anyway. Don't want to be late! See you later!'

She kissed him quickly, grabbed her dark green quidditch robes and her sleek, new broom and disparrated with a pop before he could stop her.

She appeared outside the Harpies' stadium in Wales. She had been training here for months, signed almost immediately after she left school, but today she entered with great anticipation.

She was greeted happily by all the other girls (the Harpies were the only all girl team in the league) and as she changed she listened to their nervous blabber. Soon she began to relax. As they went through the game plan, Ginny realised she was where she belonged. She had always been a fan of the Harpies, ever since she was little, and now, here she was, about to face her first professional match. She was being paid for this!

The captains shook hands and the game was off, with Valmai Morgan taking control of the quaffle. She passed to Ginny who sped towards the goals, to find herself face to face with Oliver Wood. She grinned at him before feigning a shot, sending him off in the wrong direction, then looping back and sending the ball straight past Oliver and into the left hand hoop. The crowd roared, she had just scored her first goal for the team, two minutes in!

The Harpies were on a roll, scoring goal after goal without batting an eye. Soon they had built up a significant lead, the home crowd were having a great time and Ginny was pleased to have made an impression.

She watched as the Puddlemere seeker, Benjy Williams dived, closely followed by the blur of dark green that was her team's seeker, Laura Greene. The snitch headed towards Ginny and she dived out of its way.

In her hast to catch up, Laura barreled into Ginny. As she fought to stay on her broom, Ginny glimpsed Benjy lose focus on the snitch. She hoped Laura would take this opportunity to gain ground lost from the impact of hitting her.

Because Ginny was watching the seekers, she did not see the bludger hurtling towards her. Fortunately the Harpies' captain (and beater), Gwenog Jones, did and came zooming over, whacking the offending blugder away with all her force.

She smiled encouragingly at Ginny before hissing in her ear,

'You're doing a great job, Gin, but _focus. _We can get some more goals before the end if only you'd concentrate.'

Ginny forced a smile but underneath she was fuming. She hated being called Gin and Gwenog knew it. Gwenog grinned.

'You play better when you're angry', she winked one of her twinkling eyes and flew off, obviously thinking herself very funny. Ginny shook her head slowly. She joined the game again and scored two goals in quick succession, she couldn't help but feel sorry for Oliver Wood. He was having a very bad game.

She felt the atmosphere change in the stadium, it was tensed and hushed, she looked up and saw the two seekers getting closer to the snitch, and to each other. She watched as Benjy stretched out his arm, his fingers brushing on the golden ball. He stretched a bit further and tried to grab it. As he lent forward he put to much weight on the front of his broom and it tipped up, dumping him on the ground with a thump. He was unharmed but he knew he had no chance of getting the snitch before Laura did. The home crowd cheered, realising this just as Benjy did. The Puddlemere players groaned as they sensed the game slipping away from them.

There was a tense moment as Laura fumbled over the snitch, it slipped away, nobody dared breathe.

Then the crowd erupted! They had won! The snitch had been caught and they had won 390-70. Ginny was ecstatic. The Harpies flew some celebratory loops to huge applause before landing and hugging each other, Laura holding the snitch high in the air like a trophy. To Ginny it was.

Their faces were flushed with exertion and excitement. Ginny was so happy that she had won her first professional match and the other girls congratulated her on her incredible goals.

She spotted Oliver Wood sulking in a corner. She gave him a small wave and he came over to congratulate her.

After she had showered and changed, Ginny joined her family and friends and they all disparrated back to the burrow together.

Everyone thought Ginny had played exceptionally and they told her so. She had never felt so happy. All her family was proud of her and she was relived she hadn't made a fool of herself in front of everyone. She had proved she deserved to be on the team.

They all sat down to eat together, the table magically enlarged to seat them all. Mrs Weasley had surpassed herself with the wonderful food. In the middle of dessert, Harry and Ron aparrated into the middle of the kitchen, narrowly missing the trifle.

Ginny squealed ran over to Harry, who kissed her gently on the forehead.

'We won! We won!', she squealed excitedly. Harry congratulated her before greeting the Weasleys. Ron, after absentmindedly kissing Hermione, had already helped himself to a large portion of trifle.

After dessert Ron stood up, dragging Hermione up with him.

'Me and Hermione have an announcement', he said.

'_Hermione and I_' Hermione muttered under her breath. Ron chose to ignore his girlfriend as he was used to her correcting him. There was a long pause.

'Get on with it!' yelled George, who was tucking in to some leftover beef.

'Hermione and I are…', he trailed off.

'Werewolves!', guessed George.

'Related to wombats!' yelled Charlie.

'Going to live on the moon?' asked Bill mischievously.

'Get on with it!' said George, exasperated.

'Ron and I are..' Hermione started but trailed off.

'We are..', Ron paused and looked at Hermione.

'Engaged', said Hermione sharply.

There was silence as what had just been said began to sink in.

'Oh darlings', gushed Mrs weasley, smiling widely, 'how wonderful! Oh, we must begin to plan at once!'

The whole room erupted into conversation. Ginny's smile, which had not left her face since her triumphant victory, faltered slightly. She went over to congratulate them, taking care to keep her voice steady as she could feel a lump forming in her throat.

She stayed at the table for as long as was polite, Occasionally joining in the discussions about shopping trips and guest lists. After what felt like an age she excused herself and fled to her room where she sank down on the bed, deflated.

After a while, Harry came to find her.

'Ginny', he said softly, stroking her cheek, 'what's up?'

Ginny did not respond but sat stiffly upright next to him. Harry continued to stroke her, moving down and rubbing her shoulder. Gradually, Ginny relaxed and let her head rest on his shoulder.

They sat like that for awhile, before Ginny said quietly but with a harsh, bitter edge to her voice, 'This was meant to be _my_ night. Everyone was meant to be focusing on _me_. They ruined it. They ruined the best day of my life with their stupid announcement.'

Harry mulled this over for awhile before saying, 'I bet you're in the daily Prophet tomorrow. I highly doubt Ron and Hermione will be.'

Ginny thought about this, 'New Harpie Heroine?' she sniffed hopefully.

'Nah, that rubbish' said Harry, 'More like, 'Potter's Girlfriend Outshines Him''.

'That really is rubbish' she said, now laughing. She punched him playfully, 'anyway, why does it always have to be about you?'.

They spent the rest of the evening making up stupid headlines together which made Ginny forget all about ever being upset.

Later, she went to congratulate Ron and Hermione properly but stopped outside the door because the noises coming from inside suggested they did not want to be disturbed.

_A.N_

_There you have the second chapter. I hoped you liked it._

_Please review. Any comments or criticism welcome!_

_Kat x_


	3. 2001

September 1st 2001

Ginny woke up cold. She felt the bed next to her without opening her eyes. When she felt nothing her eyes snapped open. Harry stood, wrapped in a towel, gazing down on her. She smiled back up at him.

'What are you doing?' she asked sleepily.

'Watching you sleep', said Harry, 'You look so cute when you're asleep.'

'That's kind of creepy...' she yawned, 'come back to bed', she whined, 'it's ridiculously early.'

'Don't think so love! In fact, you have to get up!'

'Not going to happen.' She rolled over.

Harry leaned over and breathed on her neck, 'you have too, we're already late.'

'Make me' she said into the duvet.

Harry picked up his wand at pointed it at her. Ginny, facing the other way, did not see this, and so, when a torrent of ice cold water landed on her head, she was suitably surprised. And angry.

'WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?' she yelled.

'well… you're up now, aren't you?' he said sheepishly.

'Remind me exactly why I have to get up 8 hours before my quidditch practice starts.' she said, slightly calmer but still fuming.

'Don't tell me you've actually forgotten?' said Harry, genuinely hurt.

Ginny, who was drying herself and the bed magically, looked around for inspiration.

They were in Harry's tiny flat in central London. It consisted of a bedroom (with a TV), a basic kitchen (which Ginny refused to enter as it was incrusted with grime) and a small toilet. It really was to small for both of them and so Ginny had half moved in, keeping all her stuff at the Burrow (apart from essentials) but living mainly at Harry's. Mrs Weasley had visited once, and had not returned, but made it very clear she did not approve of the general quality of living. Harry and Ginny had started going to the Burrow for meals as neither of them were great cooks and Mrs Weasley welcomed them lovingly. Ginny suspected she was a bit lonely now that all her children (Apart from Ron and Hermione who still lived at the burrow but spent most of their time working at the ministry) had moved out.

The last time all the family had stayed at the Burrow was in May, when Ron and Hermione got married. It was a strange affair, Hermione had insisted on a muggle wedding, complete with a muggle dress, cake and service. Magic was strictly forbidden as a large number of the guests did not know that Hermione was a witch.

Ginny suspected that Hermione had quite enjoyed pretending to be a muggle. She said that it was a 'new experience' which Ginny thought odd considering Hermione was muggle-born and had therefore lived a portion of her life as a muggle.

Ron, however, found the situation rather irritating. He was very lazy and to him, forbidding magic meant more work.

Ginny had found the whole experience quite fun but had decided she wanted a magic wedding. The muggle wedding had been weird, everything had remained motionless. There were no little fairies lighting up a roof made of pure white hippogriff feathers suspended in mid air. There was no self playing band or floating confetti. In fact, it was a bit dull. Beautiful, but uninteresting. She didn't tell that to Hermione, she want to live to see the next day.

Ginny was now suitably awake and her brain was functioning properly. She remember what she and Harry were doing this morning.

'House shopping!' she exclaimed excitedly.

'To right! I knew you hadn't forgotten.'

Ginny subconsciously fiddled with the ring on her left hand. She still hadn't got used to it being there.

'When are we going?' she asked.

'NOW!'

'Oh. I'll get ready then.'

Ginny got ready quickly, as she felt guilty about forgetting this trip. Harry had been planning it for ages, he had even taken the day off work.

When she was ready she took Harry's hand and they disaparrated together.

'Where are we?' Ginny asked when they arrived.

'Mould-on-the-Wold', replied Harry, 'it's got quite a large wizarding population.'

'Why do I recognise the name?' asked Ginny.

'Dumbledore used to live here', said Harry quietly.

'I thought he lived in Godric's Hollow', Ginny responded.

'He lived here before he moved there.' said Harry flatly.

'Are you sure that this is a good idea?' Ginny sounded worried.

'course', said Harry, 'its a nice place.' He tried to sound confident but inwardly he was panicking. Dumbledore's death still affected him more than he cared to admit. 'Well, we're here now. We might as well have a look.'

'Ok.'

When they got inside Ginny began to get excited. They had visited quite a few houses in the past couple of weeks but this was the only one she could picture herself living in. She could imagine what furniture she would put where and what colour to paint the walls.

When they went upstairs they found a beautiful nursery which took her breath away.

'Oh Harry', she breathed.

Harry pulled her closer to him and whispered in her ear, 'it's perfect.'

Ginny squealed in delight and pulled Harry round the house again, this time voicing her thoughts on furniture and wall colours. Harry smiled, Ginny's giddiness was infectious, he had a great feeling about this place. It felt like a great place to raise a family.

When they eventually finished looking round they went home, Harry promising to contact the sellers after lunch when Ginny was at training.

It was Ginny's first practice for over a month. When Harry proposed to her on her birthday he had taken her to Spain for 3 weeks as a celebration. She hadn't seen the girls since before she had gotten engaged. She was really excited to see them.

'Ginny!', Laura, the Harpies seeker, screamed, 'Oh my god, how are you? I haven't seen you for like ages!'

'Hey Laura', Ginny hugged her and was crushed by the other girls running into them.

'What have you been doing?' asked Valmai, a fellow seeker.

Ginny brushed the hair away from her face with her left hand.

'OH MY GOD! Ginny! Is that a ring?' cried Laura, 'He preposed?' Ginny nodded happily, 'when? How? Oh my god!'

'On my birthday. He put the ring into my slice of cake. I nearly swallowed it!' Ginny grinned.

'That is so sweet' said Kathy Gorse, the keeper, hugging her, 'congratulations!'

'Thanks!'

'So, how was Spain?'

'Awesome! It was so hot, you have no idea!'

Just then the Harpies' captain, Gwenog, came over. 'I hate to interrupt you chit-chat, but we do have a practice to do.'

'Ginny's engaged, Gwenog', announced Laura.

'What?', she caught sight of Ginny, 'Oh, hi Ginny! Did Laura just say you were engaged?'

'Yup!'

'Oh, congratulations! You can tell us all about it after practice. I want to hear all about Spain as well. Oh, and we've been working on some new set pieces, you'll pick them up.'

Ginny finished practice very sweaty, considering that not much practicing had been done. All the girls wanted to hear about Ginny and Harry's engagement and holiday, and Ginny wanted to tell them.

When Ginny arrived back at Harry's flat he was talking rapidly to no one. Ginny assumed that there was someone in the fire, she hoped he hadn't gone mad. She chose not to disturb him and went to have a shower.

When she came out Harry was waiting for her.

'Hi', she said.

'Ginny…' he started

'What?' she sensed something was wrong.

'Well…' He paused, 'I've just been talking to the owner of the house we went to see, and, um, well,'

'spit it out'

'well, it's already been sold.'

'WHAT? You said you'd call them immediately.'

'I kind of got a bit side tracked…'

Ginny made a upset noise and aparrated to the Burrow.

'Ginny! Nice to see you. Where's Harry?' said Mrs Weasley enthusiastically.

'Who cares!' Ginny shouted, 'He's an idiot!'

Mrs Weasley gave her a squeeze, 'I'll make you a cup of tea and then you can tell me all about it.'

Mrs Weasley bustled about the kitchen and the calm, homely feel relaxed Ginny. She sighed. Mrs Weasley squeaked, 'Oh! I forgot to tell you, Ron and Hermione are finally moving out! They bought a house this morning!'

'This morning?', repeated Ginny, 'Where?'

'Um… Gold-on-the-Wold, I think, I didn't quite catch it.'

'Mould-on-the-Wold', said Ginny miserably.

'Yeah, thats it! Apparently it's very nice. Now, what's Harry done?'

'We were gunna buy that house in Mould-on-the-Wold, we went to see it this morning and absolutely loved it. It was perfect mum! Beautiful! I went off to quidditch practice and Harry said he'd talk to the sellers, but when I got home he told me he got sidetracked and hadn't bought it in the morning, and by the time he got round to it, somebody else had already bought it.' said Ginny angrily. 'and now I find out that it was Ron that bought my dream house.

'Oh honey' said Mrs Weasley soothingly, 'it's not that bad.'

'I don't really mind that it's Ron and Hermione that have bought it', explained Ginny, 'it's that Harry couldn't be bothered to do the one thing he had to do that whole day.'

With that, Harry burst into the room via the fireplace. 'Ginny', he cried, rushing over to her, 'I'm so sorry! I really didn't mean to! I was just about to owl the sellers when Luna turns up on the door, talking nonsense about having found actual proof of crumple-horned snorkacks existing, and I didn't want to be rude so I let her in. She'd only been gone 10 minutes when you got back.'

'Oh, I'm sorry.' apologised Ginny, who knew from experience how hard it was to shut Luna up once she had started with her favourite topic. 'I shouldn't have just disappeared without listening to you. Ron and Hermione bought the house.' she added as an afterthought.

'Oh, well now we can get an even nicer one than them and make them jealous'

Ginny smiled. They said goodbye to Mrs Weasley and headed back to Harry's flat.

_A/N_

_Chapter 3 finished, I hope you liked it!_

_Sorry it's been so long, I've been very busy._

_I would love it if you reviewed, any comments/improvements welcome_

_Kat xxx_


	4. 2002

2002

Ginny rolled over, expecting to find Harry lying next to her, but instead finding a cold, empty bed. She moaned and opened her eyes.

'Harry', she whined, still half asleep, 'Harry what are you doing? Come back to bed'.

There was no reply.

'Harry?'

Silence.

She groaned and closed her eyes again. God only knew what he could be doing. She lay there, warm and happy, for awhile, hoping that Harry would soon stop doing whatever he was doing and come back to bed for a bit. Soon she got tired of waiting.

'Harry!' she yelled vaguely, to the house at large, not knowing where he could be. When there was still no answer she decided to get up. She pulled on one of his baggy t-shirts and wandered downstairs. He was nowhere to be seen. What could he doing? She decided to ask Hermione if he had said anything to her, and so grabbed some floo powder and stuck her head in the fire.

'Mione?' she called loudly 'anyone home? Ron? Anyone?'

'Ginny' shrieked a voice from inside the house, 'Oh my god how are you? It's been ages!'

'Hermione, I saw you yesterday.'

'Oh yeah! Well it feels like ages! It's so weird, you being married to Harry, me being married to Ron. We're so grown up now. Sometimes I wish we were back at school. It was so simple then.'

'Excuse me? Simple? You were fighting Voldemort every other week!'

'Oh, you know what I mean! School was so much more… you know'

'umm..'

'Oh come on, you must miss it'

'Oh yeah, I totally miss being left out of the loop in every single cool thing you guys ever did… speaking of which, do you know where Harry is? I haven't the foggiest.'

'Yeah. He and Ron went on an early morning raid this morning. Someone tipped off the Auror office about some potential dark items in an old house. Just a routine mission really. He must of mentioned it?'

'Oh! Yeah he did now you've reminded me! I don't know what's wrong with me recently. I've got a memory like a sieve!'

'you're probably just stressed. You've had a lot of work with the wedding and all'

'Mione, the wedding was like 6 months ago!'

'Ugh! You know what I mean!'

'I guess. With the Harpies winning the league last season, we've been doing a lot of extra practice to stay on form.'

'There, see? No need to worry'

'I wasn't!'

'Yes you were! I know you.'

'Ha, well maybe a bit, it just feels like I'm getting old too fast, you know?'

'Ginny, you're 21'

'Yeah I know I'm being silly! Anyway, it was great to chat, but I have to get ready for work now that I know that Harry's not been abducted'

'Okay then, see you!'

'Bye!' and with that Ginny popped back into her own sitting room.

A while later, when she had finished quidditch practice for the day, Ginny was sitting reading the Daily Prophet with a cup of tea when she realised that Harry was still not back. He'd been gone a long time. Presumable the raid had turned out to be more complicated than they'd thought. She was just taking a sip of tea (black, two sugars) when there was an almightily thud from the other room. Ginny jumped and spilt tea all down her t-shirt, and the new sofa that they had only bought a couple of weeks ago.

'scourgify' she muttered, flicking her wand absentmindedly.

'Ginny?' a voice yelled from the other room

Ginny, who, in her annoyance at the tea, had forgotten about the noise a couple of seconds ago, shrieked.

'Who's there?' she asked nervously, running towards the voice with her wand raised.

'Gin, keep your hair on! It's only me!'

Ginny opened the door to reveal Hermione standing by the fireplace, delicately brushing ash off her robes.

'Merlin Mione, you scared me! I got tea everywhere!'

'Oo tea! Any going?'

'I just finished the pot. I can make some more though.'

'That would be lovely'

'black, brown, green, breakfast, earl grey?'

'Earl grey if you've got it'

'Of course I've got it! I just offered it to you!'

'Oh yeah!'

Ginny put the kettle on while Hermione launched into explaining the reason for her sudden appearance. It transpired that while Ginny had been enjoying the quiet day to herself, Hermione had spent the afternoon, and much of the morning, worrying.

'It's just, they've been gone for _hours_', Hermione explained, 'they're never normally this long. Ron said it was just a straightforward raid. They should have been back ages ago'

Ginny, starting to feel a bit guilty at her lack of consideration for her husbands welfare, assured Hermione that they would be fine.

'They're probably back at the office doing paperwork. Or down the Leaky caldron. They'll have just forgotten to tell us.'

'Yeah you're right.'

At that moment there was a _pop _and suddenly both Ron and Harry appeared in front of them, covered in blood.

'Why is he always covered in blood?' Ginny muttered to herself.

Hermione screamed and both of them shot up, Hermione talking very fast about all the spells she knew and which would be useful but maybe they should go straight to St Mungo's and why on earth had the Ministry let them come home in this state in the first place, until they realised that both the men had massive grins on their faces.

'Ha! I told you she'd get like this', Ron grinned at Harry, 'Girls get so worked up over a little blood!'

'Ronald Weasley! You are covered in blood! Your face is caked in it, and you expect me to calmly finish my tea when you suddenly appear in the kitchen?'

'That's what Ginny did' Harry commented, elbowing Ginny in the ribs, 'Do I look handsome and rugged, babe?'

Ginny rolled her eyes.

'Please explain why you are covered in blood!' Hermione was not going to let it drop.

'Cos we thought it would be funny'

'_Funny?_' Hermione exclaimed.

'Yeah, we thought it would be a good laugh to leave the blood on and see your reaction'

'You didn't disappoint Hermione!'

Hermione sighed.

'But it is your blood?'

'Yeah. There were some aggressive gnomes in the garden'

'_Gnomes _did this?'

'Yeah! Like I said, they were aggressive!'

'Well', said Ginny, 'You look like you could do with a nice cup of tea and a sit down. I'll put the kettle on.'


End file.
